SMC wrestling faces tough draws at nationals

Most of the school-record seven Pioneers taking part in the tournament at Spokane, Wash., will face wrestlers ranked among the nation's best in the early rounds.

By TODD SHANESYtodd.shanesy@shj.com

The random drawing wasn't a very good picture for the Spartanburg Methodist College wrestling team at nationals.Two of SMC's seven competitors at the NJCAA championships today and Saturday in Spokane, Wash., will face No. 1-ranked opponents in the opening matches. Another faces the No. 2-ranked wrestler in the country. Three others will have early challenges against top-10 opponents."Our draws are borderline suicidal," SMC head coach Rob Sater said. "If you lose that first one, you have to win five in a row to be an All-American. It's hard to do. … But I've told our guys that if you want to win nationals, you'll have to face them anyway. If you pull that upset in the first match, you're going to take their draw the rest of the way out."Will Thomas from Dorman High School will face top-ranked Lukas Gilmore of Muskegon College in today's opener of the 165-pound class and DeAndre Johnson from Beaufort (Battery Creek) will take on No. 1 Jeremy Golding from North Idaho College at 149. Hector Contreras from Dorman will open against No. 2 Tim Prescott of Neosho County Community College at 125.Robert Mills from Rock Hill (York) faces a No. 9 opponent right off the bat at 157. If Dustin Martin from Chesnee can win his opening match at 174, he gets the No. 4 wrester in the country. Only Ian Clevenger from Boiling Springs, ranked No. 7, would seem to be favored in the first couple of matches."They'll look at us as underdogs, but that doesn't matter," Johnson said. "I know I feel like I can be a person who can pull the upset. That first match, I have to wrestle like it's the national championship match. I'm trying to go out there and open some eyes."John Allen Griswold from Byrnes, despite winning the Southeastern District title and earning a bye with top-five national seed, will open against a top-10 opponent in the heavyweight division. He'll face the winner of No. 8 Brandon Johnson of top-ranked Clackamas Community College (Oregon City, Ore.) and No. 9 Lavontay Cobb of Harper College (Palatine, Ill.)."I'm not as big as those guys," said Griswold, who weighs about 250 pounds in a category that is listed as 285-plus. "But I like to think I deserve to be in their class. Wrestling smart is what I need to do. I have to understand that I'm not going to get many pins, maybe none. The matches are going to be grinders."Griswold went undefeated at the district championships in Albany, Ga., where he faced 300-pounders for the first time this season."He wrestled really well, but he scared me a little bit. When he got up, it wasn't pretty," Sater said. "His success this weekend hinges on getting that first takedown and getting out from the bottom in the second period. If he does that, he has a good shot at top four (All-American status) in the country."Griswold, a former wrestler at Appalachian State, is the only sophomore on the team. The seven members at nationals is a school record at SMC.